RICHMOND — Classes are continuing and school officials are making temporary food service arrangements after a suspicious fire destroyed the kitchen at De Anza High School early Friday morning.

“Instructional time was not impacted by this,” said Marin Trujillo, spokesman for the West Contra Costa Unified School District. “School will begin as usual on Monday.”

The two-alarm blaze was reported at 1:24 a.m. Friday and started in the kitchen area of the building, set apart from classrooms by a hallway, said Erik Newman, a Richmond Fire Department battalion chief. There were no signs of a break-in, Newman said.

The fire caused an estimated $1 million to $1.5 million in damages, according to fire officials, leaving the school kitchen unusable. The cause of the blaze is still being investigated.

“We are pretty certain that someone was inside the cafeteria before the fire started. We found some (fire) extinguishers discharged inside,” said Richmond Fire Chief Michael Banks. “We’re still trying to determine how someone got in. When the fire crews got inside, it appeared everything was locked up.”

De Anza’s cafeteria was not severely damaged but was being cleaned Friday, Trujillo said, and would be ready for students to use Monday. The district will provide the school with a portable kitchen starting next week, until De Anza’s new campus will be finished in 2012.

The kitchen is part of a building that would have been demolished as part of the school’s rebuilding project, so Ramsey said it does not make sense to rebuild it.

Students and staff were back at school Friday morning, some feeling shaken by the fire.

“They took it pretty hard,” said West Contra Costa school board member Charles Ramsey. “I know they feel violated. They have to be there every day and they have to adjust to a part of the campus being gone.”

District leaders sent an automated phone message to De Anza families Friday morning, alerting them to the blaze and emphasizing school will be in session as usual Friday and next week.

"The easy part is buying the body cameras and issuing them to the officers. They are not that expensive," said Jim Pasco, executive director at the National Fraternal Order of Police. "But storing all the data that they collect - that cost is extraordinary. The smaller the department, the tougher it tends to be for them."